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Jokes and laughing

One of the best simple pleasures of life I think is watching children enjoy reading.  Yesterday, we found a new Animal Joke book at a garage sale.  Autumn read jokes from the book for such a long time.  She and Sami laughed and laughed.  They laughed even when they didn't understand what the joke was really about.

Another seemingly unrelated story from yesterday... my husband and I watched the new Alice in Wonderland starring Johnny Depp.  He was curious about it and someone he knew had liked it.  In the end, we just thought it was a bad movie.  It was really warped and dark--even the light was dark.  As I went to sleep, I wondered what was missing from the movie.  Even the white queen--the kind and good queen--seemed to be missing something.  I think she was missing love.  In the Word, it says that...  
I Corinthians 13:1-3
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

Without love, kindness is nothing.  Wisdom is nothing.  Power is nothing.  Humor is nothing.

We don't let our kids watch a lot of movies or public television.  We've felt for a long time that what children watch teaches them what is funny.  If you show children adult humor then they will laugh--because they want to laugh with you--not because they understand what is funny.  Alice in Wonderland is an adult's movie.  It is not one I would recommend for children.  I didn't see anything beneficial in a child watching it.  Potty humor is at someone's expense.  It is without love.

Two unrelated things that have a strange connection... Without love, something is nothing.
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